Princeton offensive lineman Mason Darrow comes out as gay

Mason Darrow says he knew he was gay back in sixth- or seventh-grade but that he kept it to himself throughout high school, dating girls and doing all the other things he thought football players were supposed to do.

“I felt like I had to keep appearances up,” Darrow told Outsports.com in an article that was posted Tuesday. “I didn’t want to arouse suspicion that I might be gay, so I went along with the flow and did what I thought was expected of me.”

A lot has changed since then. Now a backup offensive lineman at Princeton, Darrow is that university’s first openly gay football player and thought to be the only openly gay player in major college football right now, according to Fox Sports.

It took Darrow a long time to get to this point. He came out to his Princeton teammates nearly two years ago during his freshman season.

“I felt trapped. I wasn’t happy. I wanted to tell people, but I thought there would be a lot of animosity,” Darrow said. “There are a lot of guys from the South on the team. I wasn’t sure how people would react to it.

“But I knew at that point I didn’t want to be closeted my entire time here. I knew this had to happen eventually, so it might as well happen now. Might as well rip off the Band-Aid.”

Darrow said the other players were overwhelming accepting of him -- “Telling my teammates was the best decision I have ever made,” he said -- but he still waited about 18 months before telling his coaches this summer.

By then, Darrow said, he had decided he was ready to go public and become a role model for other gay athletes. He thought the best time to do so was this week, as the team prepares for its season opener Saturday at Lafayette College.

“Here at Princeton, if we can’t handle this and say, ‘we’re supportive of everybody no matter what their background, religion, race or sexual orientation,’ then we don’t have the right guys in the locker room,” Coach Bob Surace said. “We’re going to support Mason 100%.”